2 escape injury after plane crashes into cornfield in Aurora

A single-engine aircraft fell to the ground shortly after takeoff today in Aurora with no reported injuries, officials said.

According to an e-mailed press release from Dan Ferrelli, the director-public information for the City of Aurora, the plane took off just after 9 a.m. from the Aurora Municipal Airport, "did not gain altitude," and came to the ground in a cornfield at the end of the runway.

According to an e-mailed press release from Lt. Pat Gengler of the Kane County Sheriff's Office, neither of the plane's two passengers, Pilot Dan Bagget, 66 of Mountain View, Calif., and co-pilot Rod Kenner, 65, of Walnut Creek, Calif., were injured.

In the Kane County press release, Sugar Grove Fire Chief Marty Kunkel identified the plane as a Beechcraft Bonanza from California that was headed to Oshkosh, Wis. The plane lost power after takeoff and the pilot tried to make an emergency landing before crashing north of the airport.

Gengler described the landing as a "controlled crash" and said the plane sustained considerable damage.

The Aurora Police Department is doing the initial investigation, the Kane County release said, with the Federal Aviation Administration doing a follow-up investigation.